Patrick deWitt wins Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

Author Patrick DeWitt has taken home the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for his novel, The Sisters Brothers

In the showdown that is the fall literary awards season, Patrick deWitt is first to draw.

The author of the genre-bending western The Sisters Brothers captured the first major Canadian fiction prize of the year, when his novel won the $25,000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize at an awards ceremony in Toronto Tuesday evening.

The jury described the book as “unlike any you may read during this or the coming years” and “unforgettable.”

“It’s an honour that the judges saw fit to push it to the top,” said deWitt moments after being named the winner. “They’re extending the life of my work, and you can’t put a price on that.”

The British Columbia-born, Portland-based novelist has enjoyed a spectacular year; The Sisters Brothers, which is published by House of Anansi, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (which was ultimately won by Julian Barnes) and is also nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

“Now I really feel like I can just enjoy the remaining ceremonies and just have a drink and see what happens,” he said. “I probably won’t be as wound up as I was moments before they announced me here tonight.”

The Sisters Brothers has been a bestseller since being released in Canada this past spring. Sarah MacLachlan, president and publisher of House of Anansi, says that 20,000 copies of the “wacky western” are currently in print in Canada. “And I know we have to go back to print,” she said. “It’s been a huge success.” And a huge difference from deWitt’s one previous novel, 2009’s Ablutions, which was not even published in Canada.

“I never studied writing, and none of my friends are writers,” said deWitt. “So it was a completely foreign world to me, and I had no clue what to expect. And I certainly didn’t expect something as grand as this.”

The other finalists, who each receive $2,500, were Clark Blaise for The Meagre Tarmac; Michael Christie for The Beggar’s Garden; Dan Vyleta for The Quiet Twin; and Esi Edugyan for Half-Blood Blues. Like deWitt, Edugyan’s novel, about the fate of a missing Afro-German jazz musician who was arrested by the Nazis during the Second World War, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and is nominated for the Giller Prize, which will be awarded next week, and the Governor General’s Literary Award, the winner of which will be announced in mid-November.

In total, the jury of Emma Donoghue, Rabindranath Maharaj and Margaret Sweatman considered 120 books submitted by 53 publishers across the country.

The fiction prize was far from the only award handed out Tuesday; in total, the Writers’ Trust of Canada awarded $114,000 in prizes.

Miranda Hill won the Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for her story Petitions to Saint Chronic. The jury, which was composed of Alexander MacLeod, Sarah Selecky and Alison Pick, praised the story as “writing of the highest order, packed with insight, empathy and suspense.” Hill receives $10,000 while The Dalhousie Review, which first published the story, receives $2,000. The other finalists were Seyward Goodhand for The Fur Trader’s Daughter, and Ross Klatte for First-Calf Heifer. They each receive $1,000.

The celebrated Newfoundland author Wayne Johnston received the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Award, which goes to a writer in mid-career. His books include The Navigator of New York, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and, most recently, A World Elsewhere. “Johnston writes about the ordinary and extraordinary people of Newfoundland with great empathy and without a shred of sentimentality,” said the jury of David Bergen, Joan Clark and Miriam Toews in their citation. “His books are made to last.”

“I was actually kind of relieved — I thought I was past mid-career,” said Johnston. “But mid-career sounds good … It’s quite an honour. It really is.”

David Adams Richards was announced as winner of this year’s Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life. The prize, which is awarded to a writer dedicated to writing as a “primary pursuit,” is worth $20,000. Richards is the author of the Giller Prize co-winner Mercy Among The Children, among other books. A jury composed of publisher Patsy Aldana and authors Graeme Gibson and Wayne Grady chose Richards.

“I felt that I had to burn my bridges and kill my options if I was going to write,” he said. “I couldn’t become a professor and write. I couldn’t become a teacher and write. I had to write.”

Described by the jury as building “on the traditions of Treasure Island and other boys’ adventure stories, [writing] tales of excitement, suspense, fear, and sometimes sorrow,” Iain Lawrence received the $20,000 Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature.

Finally, Alma Lee won the Writers’ Trust Award for Distinguished Contribution, which goes to an individual or organizations for long-lasting contributions to the Canadian literary or publishing community. Lee, described as “a treasure” by a jury of her peers, was the founding Executive Director of The Writers’ Union of Canada, the founding Executive Director of The Writers’ Trust, and founder of the Vancouver International Writers Festival. “Her dedication has made the Canadian writing community stronger and her passion continues to draw us together.”

This was the first year the Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize was not handed out during the ceremony. Rechristened the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction earlier this year, Charles Foran won the prize last week for his biography of Mordecai Richler, Mordecai: The Life & Times.